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Obama: Buck stops here on protecting U.S. diplomats

President Barack Obama said it was his job to protect U.S. diplomats overseas, and
investigate the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and hold
those responsible accountable.

"I am ultimately responsible for what's taking place there because these are my
folks, and I'm the one who has to greet those coffins when they
come home," Obama said, during Tuesday's presidential debate against Republican
Challenger Mitt Romney.

Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the attack, which came on the anniversary of
the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Earlier on Tuesday, CNN published an interview with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in
which she took responsibility for the safety of American diplomats abroad.

"I'm in charge of the State Department's 60,000-plus people all over the world,
275 posts," Clinton said, in the interview. "The president and the vice president
wouldn't be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security
professionals. They're the ones who weigh all of the threats and the risks and the
needs and make a considered decision."

But Obama disagreed with Clinton's statement. "She works for me," he said. "I'm
the president and I'm always responsible, and that's why nobody's more interested
in finding out exactly what happened than I do."

The president said he would beef up security procedures at all embassies and
consulates, investigate the Sept. 11 attack fully and track down those
responsible.

Obama went on to criticize the Romney campaign for making the attack a political
issue.

"While we were still dealing with our diplomats being threatened, Governor Romney
put out a press release, trying to make political points, and that's not how a
commander in chief operates," Obama said. "You don't turn national security into a
political issue. Certainly not right when it's happening."

Romney acknowledged the correctness of the president taking responsibility "for
the failure in providing those security resources." However, he questioned the
administration's delay in informing the public that the attack was a terrorist
action and not part of a demonstration protesting an online video offensive to Muslims.

"Whether there was some misleading, or instead whether we just didn't know what
happened, you have to ask yourself, why didn't we know five days later when the
ambassador to the United Nations went on TV to say that this was a demonstration?"
Romney said. "How could we have not known?"

In a Sept. 12 Rose Garden speech, Obama did not explicitly call the incident a "terrorist attack." However, he did say: "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for."

After praising Secretary Clinton and her team Tuesday night for their hard work, Obama shot back
at his opponent.

"The suggestion that anybody in my team, whether the secretary of state, our U.N.
ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we've lost four
of our own, governor, is offensive," he said. "That's not what we do. That's not
what I do as president, that's not what I do as commander in chief."

Tuesday's debate was the second between the presidential
candidates. Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the
Republican vice-presidential nominee, debated on Oct. 11. The final debate between the
presidential candidates is scheduled for Oct. 22, and will focus on foreign
policy.